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Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Good title to start playing FF?


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With any of the Final Fantasy games it normally wouldn't matter because each game is set in it's own universe with completely unrelated stories to any of the other games. However, Lightning Returns is the third and concluding installment of the Final Fantasy XIII series, so there'll probably be a lot of story elements that you won't understand, plus you'll have no idea of any of the characters back stories, especially Lightning's which i'd imagine is very important. I recommend that you play Final Fantasy XIII first, then XIII-2 before Lighting Returns. But that's just my suggestion. :)

Edited by The Big LT
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With any of the Final Fantasy games it normally wouldn't matter because each game is set in it's own universe with completely unrelated stories to any of the other games. However, Lightning Returns is the third and concluding installment of the Final Fantasy XIII series, so there'll probably be a lot of story elements that you won't understand, plus you'll have no idea of any of the characters back stories, especially Lightning's which i'd imagine is very important. I recommend that you play Final Fantasy XIII first, then XIII-2 before Lighting Returns. But that's just my suggestion. :)

 

This. I'll also add, that you definetly shouldn't start with XIII-2 first. I did so and XIII was A LOT weaker than the XIII-2 so I didn't enjoyed it much and gave up on playing in 12th chapter, while I'm still playing XIII-2 even when I finished everything you can finish in the game.

 

If you have other systems than X360, or a PC which could run PSX and PSP emulator I would recommend the "Compilation of FFVII" which contains 4 games, 3 movies and 1 book. Definetly my favourite Final Fantasy story.

Edited by rollinbull23
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Obviously I didn't make this thread, but thanks to those who answered the original question. I haven't played any Final Fantasy games before, and thought that I would start with Lightning Returns, but am rethinking that now. Do you think that there may be a movie of cutscenes or a good narrative out there of the previous 2 games if I didn't go back and play those? Just so that I am aware of what is going on.

 

Thanks again for the answers!

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Obviously I didn't make this thread, but thanks to those who answered the original question. I haven't played any Final Fantasy games before, and thought that I would start with Lightning Returns, but am rethinking that now. Do you think that there may be a movie of cutscenes or a good narrative out there of the previous 2 games if I didn't go back and play those? Just so that I am aware of what is going on.

 

Thanks again for the answers!

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxMcuzOgVrU]Final Fantasy XIII - The Movie - Marathon Edition (HD) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy0co_tk_z8]Final Fantasy XIII-2 - The Movie - Marathon Edition - All Cutscenes/Cinematics - YouTube[/ame]

 

I still recommend you to play those games simply because they're awesome.

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Um, it doesn't really make sense to recommend him playing FF13 and 13-2 before LR because of the story developement but than also recommending him to play 13-2 before 13 because the latter is supposedly weaker. Supposedly...I hated 13-2, the focus on Serah & Noel is problematic because both reflect the biggest Anime stereotypes out there. God I hate them ... FF13 was way better in almost every way imho.

 

Also I don't think that watching these movies is really gonna help a lot because you don't get the actual game feeling. I'd really play the first 2 games ... they're not great, esp. the story is pretty shit or rather the way the story is told is confusing and you don't get the feeling of an epic tale like in older FF games, but overall they're still fun to play and really cheap as well.

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Um, it doesn't really make sense to recommend him playing FF13 and 13-2 before LR because of the story developement but than also recommending him to play 13-2 before 13 because the latter is supposedly weaker. Supposedly...I hated 13-2, the focus on Serah & Noel is problematic because both reflect the biggest Anime stereotypes out there. God I hate them ... FF13 was way better in almost every way imho.

 

Sorry but your post makes no sense. Firstly no one here has recommended that he plays XIII-2 before XIII, secondly how does playing LR before the other two not affect story development exactly, and lastly the whole anime reference is your opinion and should not influence any ones decision on whether or not to play XIII-2.

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If you have not played any FF games XIII would be a good starting point, especially if you want to play Lighting Returns :FFXIII. In 13 you learn about all the characters and back story to the characters.

 

The Game play mechanics changes a lot from 13 to LR, so play either 13 or 13-2 does not help.

 

I personally got hooked on FF from playing 13, it was the first game I played longer then a few hours when started playing games (again) 3+ years ago.

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Sorry but your post makes no sense. Firstly no one here has recommended that he plays XIII-2 before XIII, secondly how does playing LR before the other two not affect story development exactly, and lastly the whole anime reference is your opinion and should not influence any ones decision on whether or not to play XIII-2.

I mixed up another comment comment about the game order, but I actually never said that not playing the games in order would not influence the story experience. Which was the main point of my statement concerning said (wrong) comment. My bad.

 

And regarding the gameplay: If you played the Demo of the game ... it's not like the combat has changed completely. It is still very much comparable to the other FF13s. It hasn't suddenly become DMC or Ninja Gaiden.

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  • 2 weeks later...
As the title says is this a good game to start playing Final Fantasy? I have recently downloaded the first FF on Windows Phone, I plant to also download FF 3

 

I have never played a FF game...ever

 

Nope. One of the worse FF (XIII series) ever.

 

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Debuts Higher Than Lightning Returns In Its First Week In Japan

 

http://gearnuke.com/final-fantasy-xx-2-hd-debuts-higher-lightning-returns-first-week-japan/

 

If you have other gaming systems, you better start with the other ones.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While the FF 13 series is not a bad place to start,(like others said start with FF13 before 13-2 or Lightning Returns) there are better places to start. The remake of FF10 is about to release and it is one of the best, you can also get FF7 from the Square-Enix website which is widely regarded as the best FF game ever. If you can find a cheap SNES or download an emulator I high recommend FF 4 or 6 which are some of my favorites(These are called FF 2 and FF3 respectively for SNES at least here in the states).

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If you're interested in Lightning's story, you have to either watch FFXIII & XIII-2's cutscenes first, or actually play both of them.

 

That said, Lightning Returns is not a traditional Final Fantasy game. So if you want to play a Final Fantasy game to see how the series is, Lightning Returns will give you absolutely no indication. LR is more like a mishmash of ideas from Zelda (namely, Majora's Mask, but elements from other games like TWW & Skyward Sword are present) and other games. The battle system isn't even similar. It's a new take.

 

As for how far back you want to go, it depends.

 

Personally, I can't play the first two games. Simply too archaic for me, even as a guy who grew up with NES. I just can't get into them.

 

The SNES games (especially FF4 & FF6) are great retro games to start with. Personally, I'd suggest the 3D remake of FF4 (either on DS, iOS or Android). FF3 (DS, PSP or iOS/Android) is also good. FF7 & FF9 are great PS1 games to play (either on PS1, PSN or Steam or wherever available).

 

I didn't really play much of FFX onward, so I can't speak for them.

 

Additionally, the FF7 spin-offs like Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus won't make sense without playing FF7, and like Lightning Returns, are not normal FF games.

 

Crystal Chronicles titles are not normal FF games either.

 

One game that would be a good title to play is the newly released Bravely Default, but that's for 3DS, so if you don't have one, that does you no good.

 

It doesn't really matter which Final Fantasy you start with, but steer away from sequel titles if you haven't played the first one.

 

The series itself is not in any order, they are basically their own contained stories/series, but FF IV, FF VII, FF X & FF XIII all have their own sequels (FF XII does too, but nobody really acknowledges it). Play THOSE ones in order.

 

Nope. One of the worse FF (XIII series) ever.

 

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Debuts Higher Than Lightning Returns In Its First Week In Japan

 

http://gearnuke.com/final-fantasy-xx-2-hd-debuts-higher-lightning-returns-first-week-japan/

 

If you have other gaming systems, you better start with the other ones.

 

Lightning Returns was still the best selling game during its launch week, even though it was the lowest launch of all 3 titles.

 

That said, comparing FFX HD sales isn't really a fair comparison. That's like comparing it to a remake of FF7's sales. Of course they are going to be higher for nostalgia alone.

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If u want to test out the FF world and like older games, then I highly recommend anywhere from 4-9. Those are the ones that have turned me on and made this may favorite series of all-time (7 is the best in my opinion followed closely by 4)!! U can easily download 4/5/6 on an emulator. I don't know about 7/8/9 because I only played them on the first playstation, which I still have and working!! If u really want to know what made the FF series so special, start there because that is where it was best (free roaming of the world!!!!).

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